Union Aerospace Corporation
The Union Aerospace Corporation (also abbreviated as the UAC) is a multi-million dollar private company that exists in the DOOM franchise. In every title of the series, they are the ones responsible for the discovery of the Hell Portal and for the demonic invasions. They will be making an appearance in the upcoming mod ''DOOM: Reawakened'' and will be playing an even larger role than before. Concept and Creation Every title belonging to the DOOM series has the UAC portrayed as a government-funded corporation responsible for the demonic mayhem that begins on Mars. In every reincarnation of DOOM, the UAC would be depicted differently but with similar motives. Their technology also seems to differ in each reincarnation. In some versions such as the film adaptation from 2005, the UAC is described as a corrupt company with secrets, and that they are not on the same side as the military. Mad Squirrel Mods wants to re-create the UAC into a company that has the same mannerism and mindset as the Weyland-Yutani Corporation in Aliens, as a company that tries to contain and control the threat for their own bio-weapons division. History Foundation The Union Aerospace Corporation was founded by Thomas Kelliher on April 3, 1998. Despite the date of its founding, the UAC's roots go back much further. Before the existence of the Union Aerospace Corporation was the Union Media, Kelliher's first major company, which won him enough wealth to found the UAC. The company's headquarters resides in San Diego, California. It began as an organization focusing on archaeology. In 2013, the company moved on to manufacturing weapons for the United States military via congressional approval. After being given the green light, the UAC advanced their operations in space. In addition, the UAC begins to receive all of their funding from the government. The Mars Expedition In 2018, the UAC installed two science facilities on Phobos and Deimos. Each facility conducted military experiments deemed classified by the government. Those experiments included the construction of energy-based weapons and other forms of technologically advanced warfare. Perhaps their biggest project was inter-dimensional space travel, the ability to teleport from planet to planet. As part of the approval from the U.S. government, the United States Marine Corps was assigned to oversee the expedition's activities and to serve as a security branch for the facilities by setting a military outpost on Mars. Meanwhile, the UAC's archaeology branch was assigned to study and prove whether there was once life on Mars. In 2019, the archaeologists uncover their first alien fossil buried beneath Mars' surface; and another one was soon found on Phobos. With both fossils being identical, it was theorized that there was indeed life on Mars, and that Mars' inhabitants were also present on the planet's two moons. Since then, the archaeological teams on Phobos and Deimos had been trying to find out what had happened to the civilization that once thrived on a planet that evidently was once similar to Earth but later became a lifeless wasteland. Hell Unleashed In 2020, the archaeologists of the Mars expedition uncover a teleportation device left by the ancients. This became a scientist breakthrough for the UAC as they had failed attempts in creating a successful inter-dimensional teleporter. The UAC harvests the device's technology and implement it to their teleportation project; but they decided not to share their findings with the government, fearing that the company would be shut down for conducting the unauthorized use of technology that was unknown to man. In 2022, the experiments go horribly wrong; and the alien technology they incorporated begins to turn against the scientists. Two weeks before the incident, the Phobos Facility loses contact with the Deimos Facility. All expedition personnel perished during the Mars incident. The sole survivor was Doomguy, who was assigned to the Marine regiment on Mars. He destroys the Hell Portal and its technology, along with the expedition's research. The First Demonic War As the armies of Hell invade Earth, the UAC tries to send some of their science personnel to retrieve the second Hell Portal after the reports of its discovery. However, the United States military take over and prevent them from committing any action until the situation was resolved. Not abiding by their request and afraid that the military would find out about the Martian teleportation technology being used as part of the inter-dimensional space travel project, the UAC secretly sends some of their security staff to try retrieving the Hell Portal by force. It was a failed attempt as the security members had been turned into the zombies that Doomguy faces on the way. Aftermath After the end of the First Demonic War, the truth about the UAC's use of the Martian teleporter was uncovered. This caused the military to blame the demonic attacks on the UAC; and so the U.S. government decides to cease all funding with the UAC, bringing the company to near bankruptcy. Thomas Kelliher is forced to step down as CEO of the UAC; and in 2023, he is succeeded by his son Ian Kelliher. The UAC's reputation was lost. In the years that followed, they have gone from being a government corporation to a private one. They continue to make weapons for the military, but with the U.S. military inspecting the hardware more than usual before it gets sold. This caused the UAC to feel that the military was being paranoid or maybe acting out of revenge because of the all the men and women who died during the First Demonic War. In 2044, Ian Kelliher is succeeded by someone named Jeremiah Bellwhether as CEO. While leading the UAC, Bellwhether discovers something that Doomguy did not know of before the destruction of the first Hell Portal. The UAC had already made a backup copy of the data on the Hell Portal and transferred it to their headquarters on Earth. This led them to the search for a third Hell Portal. Simultaneously, they secretly figured out the technology and created their first successful teleporters, which they later build in a few decks of the Milano. In 2051, Bellwether dies of natural causes and is replaced by Silas Hildern. DOOM: Reawakened Main article: DOOM: Reawakened The UAC discovers a third Hell Portal. Its origin is unknown, and it is aboard the science vessel Milano. Careers Archaeology Archaeology was the UAC's first career branch since the time of its founding. They began with excavation sites on Earth in the African and Middle Eastern regions. As they expanded their operations in the Mars expedition, they find evidence of life on other planets instead of just on Earth. After the First Demonic War, the government had banned the UAC's archaeological branch. Defense Contracts After receiving approval from the U.S. government in 2013, the military offered their resources to the UAC, giving the UAC what they needed for manufacturing weapons. The armor and weapons that all of the Marines (including Old Doomguy) use are products manufactured by the UAC's weapon manufacturing branch. Their private security branch also uses those same armaments. Not just weapons, but ground and air combat vehicles are also built by the UAC. Everything that the military uses, the UAC provides. Even after the First Demonic War, they still make weapons for the military, but with a fragile relationship. Advanced Technology The UAC invented spaceships that can travel faster, lessening the number of years it takes especially to travel from Earth to Mars. One of the Mars expedition's top secret projects was to create inter-dimensional space travel, so that people can easily travel from planet to planet without having to rely on ships for traveling. There had been no success in creating UAC-issued teleporters until Dr. Silas Hildern took over the company in 2051. Some of the advancement in technology involves the weapon manufacturing branch, regarding the construction of energy-based weapons such as the Plasma Gun Mk. I and the BFG 9000. Appearances * The Ultimate DOOM * DOOM II: Hell on Earth * ''DOOM: Reawakened'' Trivia * The original games did not have a specific backstory for the UAC or who was leading it. The UAC in DOOM 3, however, had a backstory where it was founded in the year 2015. Thomas Kelliher was an existing character, as well as the founder of the UAC; and he is succeeded by his son Ian. However, with the story of DOOM: Reawakened giving a different time period as to when the company was founded, Thomas and Ian Kelliher may have different backstories. * The UAC's logo has different variants. One of them is identical to the one in DOOM 3. * The company's official slogan is, "Safer worlds for everyone." This is also their slogan in DOOM 3, which may be a homage to the slogan for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation in Aliens: "Building better worlds." * In DOOM (2016), the founder and head of the UAC is named Dr. Samuel Hayden. Gallery